Episodes you could do without...

[Noname Given]

I found "Patterns of Force" pretty unpleasant the last time I watched it.

Me too. It had to be even more unpleasant so close to the time of the Nazis. I'm surprised the network let them do it.

You're kidding right? the 1960ies was chock full of WWII seeries like:

Rat Patrol
Combat
Hogan's Heroes (a sit com set in a German POW prison camp)

At the point these show were being aired WWII had been over for 18 - 20 years (by comparison, the first US Gulf War has been over for that long; of course we're still engaged in ME military operations).

I mean it like saying you couldn't believe shows today like Law and Order; CSI, NCIS or 24 are doing plotlines about middle eastern terrorists or Al Queda (9/11 was 9 years ago). Does watching suchplotlines dredge up bad memoeries for you now?

It was enjoayable watching people win/defeat/humiliate the nazis on 1960ies TV shows.

 

[scotpens]

I found “Patterns of Force” pretty unpleasant the last time I watched it.

That said, McCoy's utter confusion when he's thrown into a Nazi outfit and quickly beamed down into a closet where he finds Kirk & Spock dressed in SS uniforms is PRICELESS:

McCOY: (looks around the room) WHAT THE DEVIL'S GOING ON HERE???

His actual line is, “What in blazes is this?” What makes it funny is that he's ticked off because his boot won't fit, and then suddenly realizes the ridiculously improbable situation he's in. So it's basically a double-take.

How can anyone not like an episode where we see Spock shirtless for the only time in the series, and he and Kirk both get whipped?

(Okay, so maybe I'm a pervert.)

 

[M'Sharak]

I found "Patterns of Force" pretty unpleasant the last time I watched it.

Me too. It had to be even more unpleasant so close to the time of the Nazis. I'm surprised the network let them do it.

You're kidding right? the 1960ies was chock full of WWII seeries like:

Rat Patrol
Combat
Hogan's Heroes (a sit com set in a German POW prison camp)

Don't forget Garrison's Gorillas. Okay, most people have forgotten that one, but it was pretty good while it lasted.

The Germans/Nazis were also still among the favorite bad guys in movies (The Great Escape [1963], Battle of the Bulge [1965], Tobruk [1967]) and in more than a few comics of that time.

 

[TheKeeper]

For me it wasn't the simple depiction of Nazism that made "Patterns of Force" such a horrible misfire, it was the depiction of a "Fuehrer" who was a well-meaning stooge of evil underlings.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I think you might be reading too much into that episode...

 

[TheKeeper]

I think you might be reading too much into that episode...

I don't suggest evil intent from the scriptwriter or producers. But the "well-meaning stooge of evil underling" angle to this episode, paired with literal Nazism, gave this story an unintentionally ugly spin.

I might have accepted a "Heart of Darkness" variation, where Gill was a closet Nazi who was personally responsible for the whole Nazi package as implemented, or the script as it was without all the explicit Nazi attributes (which would have defeated the purpose of using existing sets-props-costumes.) But I can only deal with the episode we got, and that's why TOS' own "Springtime for Hitler" is off my repeat viewing list.

 

[Trek_princess]

Season One: Mudd's Women, Miri (can't stand the kids' chanting)
Season Two: I, Mudd
Season Three: Turnabout Intruder, Plato's Stepchildren, and the epidsode with the Space Hippies

I actually like Spock's Brain because I think it's really hilarious - it's so bad it's good! Definitely not up to par with "City on the Edge of Forever" lol.

 

[kkozoriz1]

For me it wasn't the simple depiction of Nazism that made "Patterns of Force" such a horrible misfire, it was the depiction of a "Fuehrer" who was a well-meaning stooge of evil underlings.

Stop trying to defend GWB

 

[Warped9]

For me it wasn't the simple depiction of Nazism that made "Patterns of Force" such a horrible misfire, it was the depiction of a "Fuehrer" who was a well-meaning stooge of evil underlings.

In counterpoint, though, there were a lot of favourable views of Hitler in America of the 1930s. People don't like to talk about it (or may not remember) but it was there. And the idea of eugenics and breeding for a superior race originated in America and not Germany. The difference is the Nazis acted on those ideas.

http://rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ.htm

 

[Whill]

Here we could discuss episodes we could do without

Most of the third season.

 

[Warped9]

Here we could discuss episodes we could do without

Most of the third season.

This is often said, but I disagree with it. In truth there are few episodes that I would actually jettison in favour of something better (given the choice). As I stated in my original post I'd only jettison about a third of the final season and only if offered something better. And a third is hardly most. And The Children Shall Lead is something I could easily jettison as a freebie.

 

[Jeri]

I couldn't do without any of them; to paraphrase The Companion: they are a part of me.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Most of the third season, and a good part of the second.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Maybe it's working on the Concordance, but I've found that even the turdball episodes generally have at least a useful tidbit or two.

 

[TigerOfDarkness]

This is kind of like asking which of your kids could you do without.

Agreed. The bad episodes are every bit as integral to the legend of Star Trek as the good ones. I keep all seventy-nine.

Also agree and I conjecture that for every episode, there is at least one person who would rank it amongst their favourites (no matter how misguided they are )

 

[Willieck]

I do watch all the episodes of all the series systematically and sometimes think "oh dear it's this one" but almost invariably I do enjoy that episode again for some reason. Nearly every episode has something going for it even if it's so bad it's good.

 

[Gary7]

"And The Children Shall Lead" - absolute WORST Star Trek episode ever, hands down.

"I, Mudd" - It was just boring and predictable.

"The Paradise Syndrome" - The whole native American Indian thing just sickened me (way too stereotyped) and I just found myself bored in no time at all. The ending was kind of cool, when you get to see them recalibrate the defector device. But nothing else was really redeemable. The constant predictable arguing between McCoy and Spock was overdone and pedestrian.

"Catspaw" - Dumb. It had potential, but just poorly executed. And those romping marionette puppets at the end was just insult to injury.

"Friday's Child" - A fairly good premise, but poorly written. The indigenous people were just not believable. Poor Julie Newmar had such awful material to work with. I would have loved to have seen her as a Romulan or Star Fleet officer.

I could do without these episodes. I never watch them, except maybe to check a scene for some detail (like the small metal Enterprise in Catspaw, control room of the defector device).


Now there are others that are "mediocre", like "Spock's Brain", "Court Martial", "Mark of Gideon", and "Galileo Seven". But I'll still watch them once in a great while. They all had some good aspects that don't merit being relegated to the "never watch" bin.

 

[Captain Robert April]

The deflector stuff was done from Engineering and the bridge.

I forget, did the redux version show the beam shooting out of the deflector, or did they just stick to seeing the beam on the main viewscreen?

 

[jep]

Let's see...

The Conscience of the King.

Spock's Brain.

And the Children Shall Lead .

And I could go either way on The Ultimate Computer.

But the all-time suckified winner is:

The Squire of Gothos. And as if this one didn't suck enough,
back around 1996 the local channel that showed TOS reruns
here had some sort of problem and that craptacular episode
was shown 5 days in a row.



.

 

[Noname Given]

...and I conjecture that for every episode, there is at least one person who would rank it amongst their favourites (no matter how misguided they are )

^^^
Sorry, but I SERIOUSLY doubt you'll find ANY TOS fan that honestly places And The Children Shall Lead as their #1 favorite Star Trek episode.

(And by 'honestly' I mean of someone who didn't just read this statement and post a reply of: "And The Children Shall Lead is #1!". )